Alternate Fuels for use in Commercial Aircraft

David L. Daggett1
Boeing Commercial Airplane, Seattle, WA, 98124
Robert C. Hendricks
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, 44135
Rainer Walther
MTU Aero Engines GmbH, Munich, Germany
Edwin Corporan
Air Force Research Laboratory, Dayton, OH

Abstract
The engine and commercial aircraft research and
development communities have been investigating the
practicality of using alternative fuels in near, mid, and
far-term aircraft. Presently, it appears that an approach
of using a drop in jet fuel replacement, which may
consist of a kerosene and synthetic fuel blend, will be
possible for use in existing and near term aircraft.
Future mid-term aircraft may use a bio-jet and synthetic
fuel blend in ultra-efficient airplane designs. Future,
long-term engines and aircraft in the 50-plus year
horizon, may be specifically designed to use a low or
zero-carbon fuel.
Synthetic jet fuels are manufactured, using a
Fischer-Tropsch process, from coal, natural gas or other
hydrocarbon feedstocks. These fuels are very similar in
performance to conventional jet fuel, but have almost
zero sulfur and aromatics. This may result in lower
particulate exhaust emissions. In addition, synthetic
fuels exhibit excellent low-temperature properties,
maintaining a low viscosity at lower ambient
temperatures. Thermal stability properties are also
improved, resulting in less fuel system deposits. As
synthetic fuels have very good performance, and have
already been in use for many years in Johannesburg
airport (Sasol fuel) it will be easy to supplement current
jet fuel supplies with synthetic derived fuel. If the
additional CO2 that is produced during the
manufacturing process can be captured and permanently
sequestered, synthetic fuel could be a good near-term
supplement.
For a possible mid-term solution (i.e., 10-50 years
from now) it is envisioned that alternate fuels will make
up a much larger percentage of jet fuels. These fuels
may also involve the blending of bio-fuels with the
synthetic fuel. The major challenges of using pure bio-

Copyright 2007 by The Boeing Company. All rights reserved

fuels in a commercial aircraft are its propensity to

freeze at normal operating cruising temperatures, its
poorer high temperature thermal stability characteristics
in the engine, and its storage stability over time. For
these reasons, bio-jet fuels need to be developed that
address these issues and so will be especially tailored
for jet aircraft. Another drawback is that, because of
limited excess farmland, present bio-fuels are not
capable of supplying a large percentage of fuel without
displacing food production. However, higher yielding
future feedstocks, such as algae, may dramatically
improve supply capability. The advantages of using
bio-fuels would be its environmentally balanced CO2
impact, its capability to become a sustainable fuel, and
it may result in lower engine emissions. If the
performance and resulting cost liabilities can be
overcome, bio-fuels are envisioned to be blended with
synthetic jet or Jet-A fuels.
Long-term solutions will need to dramatically
reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases. Therefore,
alternate fuels with low to zero carbon content, such as
liquid hydrogen or liquid methane, might be used. To
use liquid, cryogenic fuels in aircraft engines,
modifications are necessary to the combustor and fuel
system components. Early tests with cryogenically
stored fuels demonstrated that a heat exchanger will be
required for vaporizing the fuel prior to combustion.
Compromises are necessary to the airframe to address
fuel tank insulation requirements and pressure issues.
The need for heavy insulated fuel tanks would result in
a decrease in the aircrafts energy efficiency on short
range flights. On the other hand, vast quantities of
methane currently trapped in the forms of methane
hydrates could become readily available in the future.
Either of these new aircraft fuels will require an
enormous change in infrastructure and engine-airplane

design. Many life-cycle environmental questions will

need to be addressed.

1. Background
Several sources have documented the diminishing
discovery of new petroleum sources and the ever
increasing global demand, Fig. 1.

and the future rate of gains in fuel efficiency will thus

be outpaced by the projected growth in air traffic. So
the aircraft industry will still require an increasing
amount of fuel.
As a consequence, the aviation industry is interested in
alternate energy sources and alternate fuels in
particular. The key issues center on finding a
sustainable source of fuel for the future that will keep
the fuel costs at a reasonable level. In addition, potential
alternate fuels should exhibit environmental benefits, by
providing airline operators with potential CO2 credits.

2. Introduction

Figure 1. The rate of oil discovery is falling while the rate of oil
consumption is increasing.1

Some sources claim we have already reached a point

where half of the worlds crude oil has been consumed,
while others indicate mid-century, Fig. 2. In any regard,
mitigation options must be implemented many years,
perhaps decades, in advance of the actual peak oil event
to assure a smooth transition to alternate fuels.2

Fuels derived from feedstocks such as coal, natural

gas, bio-oils and cellulose matter were widely used
during WW-II. The most pervasive method of
conversion includes reforming the feedstocks through
heat and catalytic reactions to syngas (CO and H2)
followed by conversion of the syngas into synthetic
crude via the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process. The
synthetic crude is further hydrofractured to synthesize
paraffins with a small percentage of non-paraffins. A
typical hydrocarbon spectra of a widely known nonrenewable synthetic fuel (synfuel) is illustrated in Fig. 3.
Plant derived fuels include feedstocks derived from
soybean oils, palm oils, corn, switchgrass and algae.
These resources are considered renewable, but most
would require large areas for plant nurturing. As such,
bio-derived fuels offer a reduction in life cycle CO2 and
many can be very attractive fuel candidates.
Longer-term alternate fuels could be liquid hydrogen
and liquid methane. The use of hydrogen in space
programs is well understood, however, due to its high
specific volume, its application may be characterized by
a huge storage tank, Fig. 3.

Figure 2. Alternate fuel sources will need to be developed to

offset the anticipated peak production of conventional oil
supply.3

Current aircraft have experienced dramatic

improvements in fuel efficiency since the introduction
of commercial jet aircraft in the 1960s. Next-generation
aircraft will see another 15-20 percent improvement in
fuel efficiency, making air travel one of the most
efficient means of transportation. However, air travel
growth is predicted to continue at five percent per year

Aircraft fuels, such as Jet-A, developed over many

years of application, have relatively high energy per unit
weight and volume. A typical FT jet fuel possesses very
similar properties as Jet-A fuel. Most other alternate
fuels may suffer from the lack of one or the other
characteristic, i.e. hydrogen shows a superior energy
content per unit weight, but exhibits a high specific
volume.

Figure. 4. Thermal deposition of various fuels in the AFRL single

tube flow reactor (ECAT) test rig shows the FT fuel has excellent
thermal stability characteristics9.

Test results have shown that this fuel results in the

production of lower particulate engine emissions.
Compared with conventional jet fuels, FT fuels show
excellent low-temperature properties, maintaining a low
viscosity at lower ambient temperatures. This could
improve high-altitude operability and low temperature
starts of the engine, Fig. 5.
Figure 3. Alternate fuels include synthetic, bio- derived
renewables, and more challenging fuels such as hydrogen.

3. Discussion
Aircraft and engine companies are currently
investigating FT fuels and bio-fuels. The type of fuel of
immediate interest to aviation is termed a drop in fuel
(i.e. direct replacement) as one that can be blended
with, or completely replace, Jet-A without necessitating
any substantial modifications to engine or aircraft.
3.1 Synthetic Fuels
Presently, natural gas and coal are the most used
candidate feedstocks for FT plant processing. Currently,
FT fuels with Jet-A blends can be considered as drop
in fuels.
The positive attributes of these fuels include: cleaner
burning fuels with no sulfur and higher thermal stability
resulting in less fuel system deposits, which is of
importance to high performance military aircraft
engines, Fig. 4.

Figure 5. FT synthetic fuels (S-8 and S-5, synthetic replacements

of JP-8 and JP-5) also have very good freezing qualities4.

The negative attributes include poorer lubrication

properties, lower volumetric heat content, possible
contributor to fuel system elastomer leakage (lack of
aromatics reduces seal swell), and increased CO2emissions during its manufacture. Large quantities of
energy are used during the FT manufacturing process
that release about 1.8 times more CO2 into the
atmosphere as compared to crude oil derived jet fuel.
Figure 6 shows the relative life cycle CO2 emissions
from various fuels, using current jet fuel as the baseline.
FT fuels can only be considered as a viable alternative
to petroleum if the CO2 emissions generated during
production can be captured and permanently

sequestered. However, this can add substantially to the

cost of FT fuels.5
3.5

Liquid Hydrogen from Coal

2.3

Liquid Methane from Coal

1.8

Jet Fuel from Coal

1.5

Jet Fuel from Natural Gas

1.3

Methanol from Natural Gas

0.8

Liquid Methane from Natural Gas

0.4

Figure 8. More recent biojet fuel samples appear to be more

capable of meeting the freeze point requirements.

Bio-Jet Fuel
Liquid Hydrogen from Water and Nuclear Power

1.0

Jet Fuel from Crude Oil

Relative CO2 emissions as compared to Jet fuel

Figure 6. FT fuels exhibit high life-cycle CO2 emissions,
requiring carbon sequestration during the manufacturing phase.
Bio-fuels have much lower CO2.

3.2 Bio-fuels
In order to be viable in the commercial aviation
industry, bio-fuels need to overcome several technical
hurdles. However, the task is not insurmountable, and
there is no single issue making bio-fuel unfit for
aviation use. Bio-fuels need to be developed and have
to be especially tailored for jet aircraft applications,
which we term as bio-jet.
One of the challenges is its propensity to freeze at
normal operating cruise temperatures, which represents
far more extreme operation capability compared to
conventional bio-diesel. A first look at bio-fuels found
them unable to pass the freeze point requirements with
only a fraction of the tolerance required of Jet-A, Fig 7.

Jet-A

Fuel #1

Fuel #2

Fuel #3

local biodiesel

-10

-20

-30

- 30 C, Minimum Jet-A Spec (for blending)

-40
- 40 C, Minimum Jet-A Spec

DLD06-13.xls

Freezing Point, (C) per ASTM D 5972

10

-50

Figure 7. 100% pure bio-jet fuels tested thus far are starting
to approach the minimum freeze requirements.

However, more recently developed bio-jet fuels

have been substantially improved, Fig. 8.

Another major challenge of pure bio-jet fuel is its poor

high thermal stability characteristics in the engine.
However, a blend of 20 percent bio-jet with 80 percent
Jet-A passed the jet fuel thermal stability requirements
as shown in Fig. 9. This is much improved over the
results for 100 percent biodiesel as shown in the right
most
bar
in
Figure
9.

Figure 9. Bio-jet fuels blended at 20 percent with Jet-A appear

to pass the jet fuel thermal stability (JFTOT) requirement.

Another drawback of bio-fuels is that, because of

limited excess farmland, bio-fuels are not capable of
supplying a large percentage of fuel without displacing
human food production. Thus, conventional feedstocks
such as corn, soybeans, and rapeseed may limit the
availability of bio-jet. For example, the use of a 15
percent bio-jet/85 percent Jet-A blend in the US
domestic commercial aircraft fleet would require more
than 2 billion gallons of bio-jet. The production of this
amount of fuel would require 34 million acres of land,
about the size of the state of Florida. A similar situation
exists in other parts of the world where energy demands
by far outstrip the ability to produce the required
amount of bio-feedstock.

have been evaluated by the US DOE7. This feedstock is

projected to produce anywhere from 10k to 20k
gallons/acre/year of bio-derived oil. With such a high
production rate, algae could produce 150-300 times
more oil than a crop of soybeans, Fig. 12.
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000

150-300 times
more fuel from
future algae
process than
soybeans

80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000

DLD06-07.xls

Oil Yield (kg/Hectre)

3.3 Sustainability
A recent trend has been to develop soybean crops
as feedstock for lipid (i.e. oil-based) biofuels. However,
in order to create sufficient farm land capacities,
deforestation, using slash and burn practices, can take
an extreme toll on rainforests. The resulting CO2
emissions are anticipated to exacerbate global warming
issues. Thus, great care has to be taken to assure that
bio-feedstock is sustainable and will not cause new
anthropogenic issues through deforestation as shown in
Fig. 10.

Soybean
(US)

Rapeseed
(Europe)

Babassu

Palm oil

(Brazil)

(Malaysia)

Algae
(World?)

Figure 12. Future feedstock, such as Algae, could provide a

much higher oil yield per hectare than present biofuel crops.

Figure 10. Deforestation (North Brazil shown) to make way for

biofuel feedstocks, could exacerbate CO2 issues associated with
global warming.6

Every region throughout the world may have

specific solutions.
For example, one sustainable
solution might be to harvest nuts obtained from native
Brazilian palm trees called Babassu. The oil from
these nuts might provide a sustainable source of oil for
bio-jet fuel in Brazil. Airframe manufacturers are
working with local entities in a joint effort to evaluate
the possibility of these bio-jet fuels, Fig. 11.

With the potential for algae of providing 10,000

gal/acre/year, some 85 billion gallons of bio-jet could
be produced on a landmass equivalent to the size of the
US state of Maryland. Moreover, if these bio-jet fuels
were fully compatible with legacy aircraft, it would be
sufficient to supply the present worlds fleet with 100
percent of their fuel needs (fig. 13) as well into the
future.
If the world airline fleet used 100% biojet fuel from algae,
it would require 85B gallons

=
World Fleet in 2004

85B Gallons
(322B Ltr) Bio-jet

This would require 8.5M acres of land (about the size of Maryland)

Algae
Acreage

8.5M acres
(3.4M Hectares)
algae
(@ 10,000 US gal/acre)

Figure 13. Algae ponds the size of Maryland would be able to

supply the worlds aviation with bio-jet fuel.

Figure 11. Could sustainable feedstock, such as Babassu palm,

prevent deforestation and provide sufficient oil for bio-jet fuel?

Future bio-fuels may also involve other sources of

oil feedstock. One promising feedstock is algae which

Another long term solution may be related to the

huge amounts of methane gas, trapped in the forms of
methane hydrates (clathrates). These hydrates are
currently stable and are stored in the deep ocean floors
and under some permafrost regions. They potentially
could offer a fuel source for many hundreds of years,

Fig. 14. Whereas the worlds conventional methane

resources are estimated to about 0.3 X 1012 m3 with
most of it located in the middle-east and former SovietUnion, the methane resources locked in methanehydrates are estimated to about 21.1012 m3, with most of
it located in the Americas8.

demonstrated no detrimental effects on either engine or

aircraft. As a result, synjet-Jet-A blends are being
considered as drop in fuels for the present, Fig. 15. If
the additional CO2 that is produced during the
manufacturing process can be captured and permanently
sequestered, synthetic and Jet-A fuel blends will be an
acceptable near-term supplement.

However, a number of still open questions with

respect to its extraction have to be answered. Major
issues concern the uncertain economics of recovery
under unfamiliar and inconvenient deep underseaconditions, as well as a number of environmental,
technical feasibility and safety aspects9. On the other
hand, extraction of these deposits in permafrost areas
may be required in order to help control global
warming. As the earth and oceans warm, the deposits
presently locked under permafrost may become
exposed. The methane released could be a far more
potent greenhouse gas contributor than CO2 is today.
Figure 15. Present aviation fuel needs are being met with
conventional and synthetic jet fuels11.

Figure 14. In the future, Methane Hydrates may become a

significant energy source. 10

4.

Mid-term solutions include the blends of synjet fuels

and processed bio-fuels (bio-jet) along with major
changes in engine configurations, Fig. 16. Whereas the
synjet production plants are still most likely fed by coal
or natural gas, the bio-feedstocks remain varied and
most likely the oils will be provided from several
sources to form a pre-blend of bio-kerosene that has to
be further refined to bio-jet. These fuels will be blended
with synthetic fuels but at a significantly reduced
mixture ratio compared to synjet-Jet-A blends.

Present, Mid-term and Future Fuel Solutions

Currently, nearly 100 percent of all aviation fuel is

petroleum derived, based on conventional and wellknown refining technology with the ability to supply
billions of gallons of jet fuel annually, (Jet-A and JP-8).
In the past, these sources have been highly reliable and
cost effective. The most recent price fluctuations and
vulnerability of petroleum sources for transportation
fuels are driving the need for synthetic fuels and
synthetic fuels /Jet-A blends to reduce these fluctuations
and secure sources of supply.
Presently, coal and natural gas are good candidate
feedstocks for FT plant processing into synthetic jetfuel (synjet). Synjet is being blended and used in up to
50 percent blends with Jet-A fuel in South Africa (Sasol
fuel) without reported detrimental effects on aircraft or
engine performance. The recently performed USAF B52 testing program with a 50/50 JP-8-synjet blend also

Figure 16. Mid-term aviation fuel needs may be met through a

blend of synthetic and bio-jet fuels

The blends may range from 0-50 percent bio-jet with

10050 percent synjet for consumption in highly
advanced engine concepts. The future propulsion
systems being contemplated range from geared turbofan
engines with ducted or unducted propfan to designs
realizing ultra high bypass ratios for significantly

improved propulsion efficiency. In addition, thermal

efficiency can be further raised by inter-cooled,
recuperative engine concepts. Concepts such as these
engines may be integrated into advanced aircraft
designs.
Long-term fuel solutions will need to dramatically
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, alternate
fuels with low or zero carbon content, such as cryogenic
hydrogen or liquid methane, might be used. Hydrogen
may be generated by solar or nuclear fusion energy. As
vast quantities of methane could become available from
methane hydrates, it could be liquefied for direct use in
specially designed future aircraft or it could be used as a
source to generate liquid hydrogen while sequestering
the CO2, Fig. 17.

Solar

or
Fusion
H2-tight gas seals essential
plus

Exit Heat
Exchanger
Required

Water
And/or

TBD Future Fuel

Processes for
LH2 Production
and LCH4
Excavation

Shorter,
Compressor
Lighter
Intercooler
Combustor

Turbine
Blade
Cooling

Cryogenic Fueled Engine?

Methane Hydrates

Fuel Source

Processing

Use

Figure 17. Long-term aviation fuel may be hydrogen derived

from solar and fusion power as well as methane hydrates.

In order to use liquid cryogenic fuels in aircraft engines,

a number of significant modifications are necessary to
the combustor and fuel system. Early tests with
cryogenically stored fuels demonstrated that a heat
exchanger will be required for vaporizing and heating
the fuel prior to combustion12. Compromises are
necessary to the airframe to address the large fuel tank
and the needed insulation. The need for heavy insulated
tanks could result in a decrease in the aircrafts energy
efficiency, especially on short range flights7.
These fueling options will require the redesign of both
the engine and airframe taking into account the
characteristics of cryogenic systems. Either of these new
aircraft fuels will require completely different and
creative aircraft and engine designs. They will have an
enormous impact on fuel supply infrastructure.

5. Conclusion
The motivation to develop alternate fuels for commercial
aviation is twofold: First, with respect to near-term
concerns, alternate fuels will relieve the worldwide
pressure on crude oil derived fuels. This will help to
stabilize price fluctuations.
Secondly, with respect to mid-term concerns, alternate
fuels should increase environmental performance of air
transportation, including a substantial potential for
reduction of CO2 emissions over the life cycle.
Thus, the ideal alternate fuel will fulfill both
requirements: to relieve the worldwide pressure for
crude oil derived fuels and to significantly reduce CO2
emissions.
The short-term option of synthetic fuels processed in the
FT process meets the first target. It has the potential to
release pressure from pure crude oil derived fuels,
without a long delay. However, it will not reduce CO2
emissions over the entire life cycle. Moreover, if the
additional process related CO2-emissions are not
captured and sequestered, the total CO2-emissions may
double.
The mid-term options, including future renewable
derived bio-fuels and its blends with synthetic fuels,
offer the promise of a complete replacement for crude
oil derived fuels. In addition, for at least the CO2emissions from the bio-derived fuel fraction, it offers
the chance for an atmospheric neutral CO2 balance fuel.
Algae seem to be a promising future feedstock option
which could provide a much higher oil yield per hectare
than present bio-fuels. As such, it is presently the most
attractive lipid-based biofuel feedstock to pursue for
aviation. Other feedstocks, such as switchgrass, may
provide the feedstock needed to produce cellulosic
ethanol that could be efficiently and easily used in
ground transportation,
The final long term option seems to be low carbon,
liquefied gaseous fuels. Liquid methane, extracted from
methane hydrates; or perhaps liquid hydrogen, produced
from nuclear or preferably from solar power, are
promising long term options. In combination with
economically viable fuel saving technologies, both fuels
may also completely replace the current crude oil
derived fuel sources. In addition, hydrogen fuel could
completely resolve CO2-emissions. However, a number
of technological challenges have to be solved prior to
its use in air transportation: A low fuel volume density,
even when stored onboard as cryogenic fuel, will result
in large, heavy insulated fuel tanks that will no longer

be able to be integrated in the airframe wings. In

addition, an economic and environmentally sound way
of producing the fuel needs to be developed. Flight
environmental factors, such as increased water vapor
emissions, need to be understood. Lastly, a complete,
worldwide cryogenic fuel infrastructure has to be
established.
As hydrogen production and infrastructure issues are
addressed for ground transportation, they will also
provide new opportunities for air transportation.
Finally, the storage of cryogenic fuels onboard and its
use in advanced engines have to be solved by creative
and highly advanced airframe designs which may
completely differ from todays airframe shapes.

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